Travel and Mindfulness – dealing with post-trip​ depression

You spend months and months in the lead up to your trip of a lifetime! You plan, pack, research and organise and countdown the days until you leave.

Then you go, you have the most amazing time and just like that you’re back, back to work, back to reality and back to trying to adapt to being a responsible adult with a bedtime and bills to pay.

Always reflect on the good times!

It can actually be really hard to not feel down after a trip, it is normal to be reminiscing on the fun times and wishing you were back soaking up the sun or touring around learning about a new culture.

Chances are you will feel sad and you will have your moments where you feel like you have nothing to look forward to, but there are some steps you can put in play to at least help manage the impacts of post-trip depression or the holiday blues.

Inspire yourself!

Firstly, before you go plan things to come back to that will make you feel excited again. Whether it is a catch up with your friends or even another trip, this way you have something to look forward to when you get back. Just maybe don’t organise a night out on the town like I keep doing, the jetlag hits you later and it not ideal.

We all know that having something to work towards or look forward to doing will always get our mindset in a more positive place.

Always look after yourself on return

Also, while you’re away don’t overshare all your trip stories. Posting photos and videos is a great way for people to feel connected with you, but try not to contact your loved ones every day, that way you will be super excited to share all your stories when you return.

Now the unpacking part can be gruelling and make you feel worse, so take it slow and do bits at a time. Unpack all the boring stuff first and leave all the purchases and shopping until last, that way you will be excited to go through all the stuff you bought.

Plan your next destination as soon as you return!

Once you get home it is all about looking after yourself so you can get back on track to your routine again. Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t have lunches prepare for the first week back at work but also make sure you look after yourself.

Drink loads of water, get enough sleep, eat healthy foods and definitely exercise. The exercise will get all those good vibes back into your body. Also, loads of vitamin D, so get out in the sun as much as you can!

Be grateful for what you saw

When it comes to jet lag, sometimes the best thing to do is get back to work as soon as you can, get back into the routine so you don’t find yourself getting tired as you have to push through the day. The first time I got back from America I had another week off and I ended up napping during the day and got really sick!

Finally, use your trip to inspire you! Express more gratitude by being thankful for the amazing opportunities you received whilst on your trip. You can do this by writing down what you’re grateful for each day, you can meditate expressing gratitude or you can look through all your photos each day.

Beautiful – Queenstown

Whilst you are doing this, think about the things you learnt about yourself and the trip. What can you take back to improve your life! You will be surprised! You can also use this trip as a fresh start to the better version on yourself and to form new habits!

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